NAPOLEON AND DOCTOR VERLING
ON ST. HELENA

J. DAVID MARKHAM

PEN AND SWORD MILITARY
2005

First Edition.
Many books have been written about the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena and its most famous resident, the exiled Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The extraordinary sequence of events that led to the most famous man of his age being marooned on a barren island at the mercy of his enemies is a subject of enduring fascination. Diaries, eyewitness testimony, memoirs, letters and official records of the episode have been so intensively researched that it is rare for a fresh, unpublished account to come to light. Yet Dr James Verling's St Helena journal is just such a source.

Verling was based on St Helena during Napoleon's imprisonment and at one point he was even appointed as Napoleon's official physician. It was not to be, however, as Napoleon refused to accept a doctor appointed by his hated jailor, Sir Hudson Lowe, without putting restrictions on the relationship that were unacceptable to both Verling and Lowe. The politics, often petty, of this situation are fascinating and offer an amazing look at life on this remote island. ,

Throughout his stay, this young Irish doctor kept a vivid and detailed diary of his experiences, which is published here for the first time, augmented with important letters between the principal players and with an introduction and analysis by Napoleonic scholar J. David Markham. Through Verling's eyes we get a fresh view of daily life on the island and of the suspicion-filled artificial society that grew up around Napoleon during his last years.

Issues of high European politics form the background to Verling's story. But in the foreground and of daily concern are the gossip and petty intrigue that consumed the attention of the principal characters who found themselves caught up in the strange drama of St Helena - Lord Bathurst, Sir Hudson Lowe, Dr O'Meara, Louis-Joseph Marchand, Count de Montholon, Grand Marshal Bertrand and others. Over them all, of course, is the looming presence of the ex-Emperor himself, cooped up with his tiny court during the time of his isolation, decline and death.

David Markham's skilful retelling of the St Helena story, combined with Verling's hitherto unpublished eyewitness account, will be essential reading for anyone who is interested in Napoleon and his era.

24 x 16 cm. xx + 178 pp + b/w photo plates.

Very good + condition, hint of age toning to page edges but otherwise like new.